Diabolus
For all his talk of wanting to surpass his father, the Hell-Lord Mephisto, Blackheart realized he too often resorted to similar power games. For one thing he allowed himself to be caught in a running feud with the Ghost Riders. He still despised them with every fiber of his dark being, but he now realized pursuing such interests were no longer beneficial to his goals. His attempts to outright murder his father and take hisw throne had born fruit in the short-term, only for the old man to return and reclaim his position and banish Blackheart from his realm. Still, such endeavors had not been unfruitful. The name of "Blackheart" was a respected one in Hell, one that inspired both fear and respect. He even had his own Hell-Realm. While not the equal of his father's, it's very existence proved Blackheart was no longer bound to Mephisto in any way. So when he realized how similar he had been acting to regards to his own agena, it opened hius eyes as to his own failures.

He needed a new way to achieve supremacy. Humans were still the key, but corrupting individuals or the so-called heroes was a dead end. Blackheart had become inspired during his time as a bound servant of Selene, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. The Club was a perfect example of how an amoral elite could direct events to suit their agendas. Blackheart decided he would do something similar, but on a much grander scale. Thus he took on the idenity of Malik Jericho, and a series of hostile takeovers, corporate mergers, back-office goals, and a bit of old-fashioned soul-selling, Blackheart had built a young, but significant corporate power, Diabolus.

Using this company as his vehicle, Blackheart would slowly but surely influence the elites of human society, who in turn would expose these differences onto the general populace, changing them bit by bit to fit Blackheart's image of an ideal mortal world. Science, business, medicine, politics, magic, and even theology, Blackheart had branches created to twist the next generation of leaders in these fields to his vision. He knew there would be those that'd oppose him, but he waqs no longer like his father. He would not seek out his enemies, tempting them with deals, mocking their attempts to stop him, or deriding their moral beliefs. No, he'd wait, and corrupt the very world in which they lived. By the time any of the managed to make their way through the web of lies, secrets, and manipulations he'd crafted, the people themselves would turn on their would be saviors. ANd he would be there, savoring their despair.

He had been standing in one of his labs. Every human there was an elite acolyte of his, thus there was no sense in taking human form among them. He walked to his scientists' creation, standing tall, it's casing unfinished. A grin formed on his face as he studied the shape before him.

"A pity for the X-Men that they will be the first to witness my newfound power." Blackheart laughed as he turned away, leaving the half-finished Sentinel behind him.